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New Study - Best and Worst Cities to Ride In!

Which American city is the absolute worse to ride through? Which are the most enjoyable for some saddle time? Wonder no more, we have the scientific answers.

Whether using a motorcycle for the daily commute or bikers who find themselves cruising the local metropolis, our friends at WalletHub have a new study ranking the top US Cities.

Understanding everyone thinks their traffic is ugly, and very few riders dream about riding through crowded streets, this new survey takes into account everything from average gas prices to average annual hours of traffic delays. It’s a broad study, taking into account factors that would be more important to car drivers than bikers such as the availability of car washes, auto mechanics and car thefts. Side note - riders wanting to know more about motorcycle thefts can find an incredibly informative study here.

Some of the categories that do apply to motorcyclists certainly carry considerable concerns. Congestion is congestion regardless of the number of tires on your vehicle and even if lane-splitting is legal in a rider’s state, it can only help so much in a traffic jam. Greensboro NC, Wichita KS and Corpus Christie TX boast the lowest number of annual hours spent in congestion. However, those in Miami FL, Atlanta GA and San Francisco CA are left staring at brake lights and sucking down carbon monoxide.

Another ranking in this WalletHub study important to riders, the amount of precipitation. Not surprisingly, cities in Nevada dominate the charts for the least amount of rain while Portland OR, Pittsburgh PA and Seattle WA top the wet end of this particular consideration.

The last category of particular interest or bikers, paying for gas. The state of California dominates the most expensive gas prices while more rural, energy-producing states enjoy the cheapest fill ups. Tulsa OK, Oklahoma City OK and Lubbock TX are the top three cities with the lowest price for gasoline.

How does all this come together for the final score? If this were a talent contest rather than a motorcycle article, we would cut to commercial break at this point. Since its not, here are the top and the bottom of the charts once the various categories have been brought together. Two crowded cities in California, Oakland and San Francisco are considered the worse cities to ride through while Greensboro NC, Gilbert AZ and Corpus Christie TX are among the best cities. Here are the top and bottom ten cities with the full chart, other rankings and how they were calculated are included in the full report of WalletHub’s survey found here.